Ludwig looked at Hoyo and said, “Then wouldn’t it be better for you to sign up there and study there, you never know we might get delayed or something unexpected could happen that might delay us.”
“You’re right, I was too absorbed, let’s go,” she said as she downed the mug.
Ludwig left one gold coin to the busboy who thanked him a dozen times over.
“That was a fat tip you gave him,” Hoyo said as the three left.
“Oh, I have no idea what’s the value of money here,” Ludwig shrugged.
“You really did come from under a rock, or form a faraway mountain, the fact that you don’t know many basic things,” Hoyo shook his head.
The three kept weaving and moving through the bustling city streets until they reached an incredibly massive square that had a dozen or so stalls lined up next to the entrance, the stalls were all selling one item and one item only. Masks.
“We need to grab a mask before we enter the Mage Masquerade carnival area,” Hoyo reminded.
He then proceeded on scanning through the merchandise. There were many masks there, from wood to iron, to some that were adorned with gold and jewels.
Ludwig groaned.
“What’s wrong?” Kassandra asked as she grabbed a white mask with bunny ears.
“The fact that his is supposed to be an anonymous masquerade, is simply dumb, I mean look at the prices, wouldn’t the nobles just grab the most shiny and most eye catching mask to show off their status?” Ludwig asked.
“They do, but that doesn’t matter, even if they do that, they can’t remove the mask or reveal their identity, and if a commotion happens they can’t use their influence, it’s basically a bait for nobles who still want to showcase their wealth, because that mask doesn’t give power, it only takes it away.” She explained
Ludwig sighed and began looking at the masks. There were a lot actually, some that were quite familiar too. Some had long noses like a creature from Earth Eastern Folklore the Tengu, and some were like a pumpkin, reminding him of the Jack-o’-lantern. Some were simple wooden masks that hid the face, and some were extremely ornate to the point of extravagance.
Hoyo grabbed a simple eye covering mask that revealed the rest of his face and covered his face. While Kassandra grabbed a black butterfly mask that also did the same.
Ludwig didn’t find anything interesting from all the stalls and was about to grab a simply pure white mask that only had eye slits for sight.
Yet something glowed in his vision. Turning, there was a stall at the far end of the line.
It looked far too shabby compared to the rest of the stalls. And didn’t have many options to choose from. And all the masks that the stall had were… well, weird. They were all placed on mannequin like heads that looked a bit too real. To show how they’ll look like once worn. But that only made it creepier.
The stuff you’d see people wearing in Halloween, bloodied, gory and some outright unwearable as they had spikes and thorns inside the mask. But the shiny object among them was a face mask that covered one’s eyes with… hands?
The mask was strange to say the least, it was two hands that looked pretty worn and thin, they had several runic tattoos all over the fingers and back of the hand, and they cradled the mannequin’s head while the fingers acted like spikes on a crown.
Ludwig looked at the old man who was smoking a pipe not even caring about his ‘exotic’ merchandise being sold or ogled. “How much is this?” Ludwig asked. Simply out of curiosity, that mask looked awkward as hell but he was intrigued nonetheless.
The old man said, and then said, “You can take it for free if you can wear it,” he said and then took another puff of his pipe.
Ludwig grabbed the mask and used [Inspect] on it.
—
[Mask of the Blind Witness]
Type: Headgear
Rarity: Unique [Cursed]
Growth Type: Growth Condition (???) Condition of Use: 1 stamina
Attributes:
+5 Charm
+5 Wisdom
+5 Strength
+5 Dexterity
+5 Luck
+5 Agility
-200 Stamina
Abilities
[Echoes of Truth]: Grants the wearer the ability to pierce all illusions, magical disguises, and invisibility. Deception in any form falters before the mask’s unyielding gaze.
[Mark of the Witness]: The wearer can mark a target—be it an object, creature, or person. The mark persists until the target moves beyond a specific range. If the marked target reenters the mask’s range, it will immediately be revealed to the wearer.
[Mask of the Blind]: For every second the mask is used, the wearer will experience blindness for an equal duration once the mask is removed.
[Truths and Lies]: The mask occasionally reveals glimpses of a possible future, an unpredictable mix of truths and falsehoods. These fleeting visions are often vivid, but interpreting them correctly is a challenge, as they may lead the wearer astray as often as they guide them to success.
Lore:
The Mask of the Blind Witness is said to be forged from the hands of a cursed seer who, in their final moments, was forced to foresee their own death. Their last act of clairvoyance became an eternal imprint, embedding fragments of divine foresight and the seer’s own curse into the mask. It is an artifact steeped in contradiction: a tool of revelation that obscures, a window to the future that confounds the present.
Legends tell of users who wielded its powers to uncover secrets and foresee peril but fell victim to its insidious influence. The unrelenting cycle of blindness, paranoia, and glimpses of uncertain futures left many of its wearers descending into madness, unable to discern reality from illusion.
The mask offers power, but at a terrible cost. Each use brings clarity to others’ lies while planting seeds of doubt in the wearer’s mind. Few who have donned it have escaped its grasp intact, for the mask consumes not the body, but the spirit.